$750 Build

Here by popular demand, this setup should certainly max older games and have little trouble playing newer ones on high settings.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz Black Edition (Brisbane) Socket AM2 CPU - $100
- 2x512KB L2 cache

ASUS M2N-E (nForce 570) Socket AM2 motherboard - $100

G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800 (F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ) memory - $45
- flexible voltage range, 1.8v – 2.0v
- 5-5-5-15
- unbelievable price

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB (ST3320620AS) OEM hard drive - $75
- 7200 RPM, 16MB cache, SATAII

BFG Tech GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB PCI-E video card - $255
- 128 stream processors

Thermaltake PurePower RX 550W (W0143RU) ATX power supply - $110
- 52A on +12V rail

Samsung 20x DVD±R (SH-S203B) OEM optical drive - $27
- black, SATA

Cooler Master Centurion 534 (RC-534-SKN2-GP) ATX mid-tower case - $50
- black/silver, very basic
- 120mm fans, side vents

GRAND TOTAL = $762

Wiggle Room

If you drop the case, I’d recommend doubling up on the RAM. You could also increase the hard drive size.